Park Ranging: A Saga, Part 1
Hi everyone! First off, thank you all so much for the overwhelming support on my previous post (Why I’m No Longer A Park Ranger), it’s been phenomenal. A lot of people were into it, and so I’ve decided to make a series of sorts, with one story/experience per post (unless I feel otherwise), and at the very least weekly posts. I have many things to share with you all and I’m very excited. Secondly, as a LOT of you have mentioned, these bear a resemblance to the SAR (Search and Rescue) stories. I am not attempting to replicate or continue any of those, and would actually much rather begin my own line of writing, with respect to those stories. Anywho, enough of my rambling and on to the story. There have been few occasions where I have actually taken the night shift. Most of the time I wrongfully pass out in the provided bed and wait until my shift ends. This story actually takes place during one of those occasions. I was fast asleep in the bed, even though the mattress was hard and didn’t adjust to my back. I had done my site check and stared at the woods for about half an hour, but time moves on and my attention wavers, so I came up with sleeping as my one solution to boredom. In an instant I realized I was awake, and I immediately sat up in the bed. Something had woken me up. It was one of those occasions where something loud happens and you wake up, but don’t process it in time to register what it was. Whatever it was, it must have been loud. Glancing towards my alarm clock I could see that is was 3:21am. I rubbed my eyes of what little sleepiness was still in me, and looked around to see if maybe something had fallen. Everything seemed to be in place, but the lights were off and my nocturnal vision is less than supreme. I heard something shut. The tower door. The door was wide open, flapping in the wind. That must have been it, I left the door open a little and a strong gust of wind must have thrown it open and against the wall. I guess it wasn’t anything closing after all? That gust of wind was now going through the room, and disturbing my warm temperature. I rolled off my sheets and hopped out of bed towards the door. I pushed it with some force towards the wall, hoping to recreate the sound and trigger a memory. But the door didn’t even reach all the way to the wall, it’s hinge keeping it firm. I shut the door, fully this time, and went back to my stone-hard sleeping spot. I was able to fall back into a doze fairly quickly, before I was awoken again by what I assumed to be the exact same thing. I still didn’t hear it. I looked towards the door, and saw that it still remained shut, unperturbed since I last saw it. The alarm clock read 3:39, I had only been asleep for 18 minutes. I grew annoyed at the thought of not being able to fall asleep, and got up to search the kitchen. Being the same kitchen as every other tower’s I could easily locate and check off each item I found as not being the culprit. All knives still in their holder, the microwave off, blender unplugged. The toaster didn’t seem to be the cause, so that meant it probably wasn’t an electronic making the noise. The floor was clean and all cabinets were shut. I was truly clueless, and gave up my search to head to sleep. I sat under my covers, still awake, now in day mode because of all of my detective work. Then I heard it. It was a scream. A scream that sounded like a car tire stuck screeching on asphalt, I was only able to identify it as a vocal product because of the changes in pitch, going up and down in it’s high tone. It sounded...inhuman, bloodcurdling and agonizing. I jumped out of the bed, tripping on my covers and looked around, by now the screaming had stopped, but it was so loud that I knew it had to be coming from inside. I looked back to the kitchen, whatever it was must be in there. I looked from the appliances on the counter, to the drawers and utensils that were laid out, to the two giant cabinets that were at the other end of the kitchen. The office joker Donny was on vacation, in Hawaii, I had seen him post about it just earlier that day! There was no one else that worked here that was like that which meant...this wasn’t a prank. I grabbed one of the knives that had sat in the holder, and crept my way to the cabinet. I reached one arm to the silver handle, the other poised with the kitchen knife, ready to defend myself. I threw open the door and readied myself for an attack. An attack that didn’t come. I saw nothing in the cabinet besides a broom and other supplies that were above my pay grade, at first at least, until I glanced downwards to the raccoon that was crouched in the corner. It screamed that monstrous scream, and I tripped backwards as it ran over me to safety, under my rock of a bed. Even it knew that mattress was unbreakable. I opened the door again and poked at the raccoon with the broom until it finally ran back outside. So maybe I did hear a door shut after all. Poor thing must have been shut in the there by the wind. It didn’t matter, the noise was gone and I was finally able to go back to sleep. I curled under my blankets and rested my head on the pillow, in serene peace, completely unaware of the horrific banshee that lied just above me on the ceiling. I’m kidding about the banshee. Raccoons are known (at least around my area) for their horrific screams, which conveniently are heard most frequently in the middle of the night. I myself had never had the...pleasure, of hearing one of them in person before this encounter. If all of you readers are satisfied with this story, I would gladly keep going with this series, not forever, but I would hope to continue it for a decent amount of time. In the meantime, watch out for the screaming raccoons my friends. 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